NRL Grand Final October 6 2002
Moment Info
- Date of Event
- 6 / 10 / 2002
- NRL Round/Season
- Grand Final 2002 NRL Season
- The Magic Moment:
- After 8 long seasons of blood, sweat & tears the New Zealand Warriors of 2002 had finally made it to the Big Dance, otherwise known as the NRL Grand Final.
Although the event ultimately ended in disappointment for the Warriors & their die hard fans with a heartbreaking 30-8 loss to the eventual winners, the Sydney Roosters, the match itself did manage to provide rugby league fans everywhere with one genuine magic moment that is still talked about to this day.
After trailing the Roosters 6-2 at the half time break, the Warriors needed to start the second half well & thanks to man known as The Little General, Stacey Jones, that is exactly what they did.
Around 5 minutes into the second half Jones, a foundation Warriors member & also arguably the finest rugby league player New Zealand has ever produced, scored not only a great try in it's own right, but also arguably the greatest individual try ever seen by any rugby league player in a NRL Grand Final.
Jones unleashed a spectacular display of dazzling footwork, electric speed & sheer determination to single handedly beat no less than 6 Roosters defenders on his way to the Telstra Stadium try line, what makes this try even more remarkable, is that in a sport quite often referred to as The Land of Giants, due to the large physical stature of most rugby league players, the diminutive by comparison Jones, who is listed as being only 171 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall with a playing weight of around 82 kgs, still managed to produce an individual effort, from almost 40 meters out from the try line, that would ultimately see The Little General score completely untouched by a single Roosters defender.
